Industrial design key to smartphone future says Acer

As smartphone specs become increasingly samey, manufacturer Acer has suggested industrial design could be key to future industry success.

With the Samsung Galaxy S5 having been widely criticised, as the Galaxy S4 before it was, for featuring a high-end price tag and cheapening plastic body, rival manufacturer Acer has hinted more premium design principles could soon dominate the smartphone space.

“There is still a lot of space to go on hardware,” Allen Burnes, Vice President of Acer’s Smartphone Business Group said. He added: “Industrial design will become more popular.”

One key example of industrial design used effectively within the smartphone sector is that of last year’s HTC One. With the HTC One 2 having been confirmed for a March 25 unveiling, this area of the market is set to be further enhanced in the near future.

According to Burnes, however, this move to improved design aesthetics will be much larger than just select flagship lines. The Acer VP has hinted the premium principles could be rolled out to all devices in the near future.

“We are of the firm belief that phones don’t need to feel cheap,” he said speaking exclusively with TrustedReviews.

He added: “There is a lot of bordering around screens that needs to go away. As you get rid of these boarders you can keep the same footprint but increase the screen size and a lot of that is going to happen.”

Looking at further areas of improvement he stated: “Products have still got a long way to go in this space on the industrial design side.

“Cameras will get better undoubtedly, interface methodology will come into play and industrial design will become more popular.”

Although suggesting phone hardware is still open for widespread improvements, Burnes has hinted that smartphone software is also in line for major overhauls.

“On the software side there are a number of things which we will be deploying which will start allowing us to interface more strongly with consumers’ greater IT environments,” he said.

“We can do stuff and have fun creating things without disenfranchising our core buying group.”